Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Jan Chrt (jeni-cek on deviantART). All rights reserved.

The smell of sugar wafted through the air as Weiss lazed back in the lawn chair, basking in the sun's rays as she waited for her ice cream to be served. On the other side of the circular table, meanwhile, sat Cardin, looking decidedly uncomfortable in the t-shirt and jeans combo he'd been forced into after Weiss 'respectfully disagreed' with the idea that wearing armour in an ice cream parlour was a perfectly reasonable idea. Still, after his vanilla ice cream finally arrived, arranged in a dainty little glass complete with miniature parasol to boot, he seemed a little more at ease, proceeding to dig into his new treat with great gusto. Weiss, on the other hand, was content to wait a little longer, merely glaring dreamily up at the clear blue sky.

"It'll melt if you just leave it like that."

Weiss switched her view to Cardin, noting that his ice cream had already been half-devoured.

"There's a balance between 'leaving something' and 'wolfing it down', you know. Perhaps you should try it sometime."

Cardin shrugged.

"Never know when something'll up and vanish. Might as well grab it while it's still there."

"Hm…I suppose there's some wisdom in that."

Weiss took a slice from her lemon ice cream, daintily placing it in her mouth and murmuring happily as the softest tang danced through her taste buds. Naturally, by the time she'd fully appreciated her spoonful, Cardin had already finished his entire ice cream, his expression vaguely sheepish.

"…sorry. Should've waited, right?"

"That would be polite, yes." Weiss replied amusedly, "Still, this isn't exactly a dinner at an upper-class restaurant; if you want to eat that quickly, then by all means, be my guest. This is your treat, after all."

Cardin pushed his ice cream glass to the side.

"Still not sure why you decided to go through with this….not like I did much good as your bodyguard. Probably would've been better off on your own, even."

"I told you we were going to an ice cream parlour before, did I not? Besides, when it came to confronting your father, I think you did as much as you could."

A moment of silence descended on the table as the two cast their mind back to the previous week's events. Thankfully, there was plenty of chatter from the parlour's other visitors to fill the space, but even so, it was clear that they were lost in thought.

"…what was he like?" Weiss asked finally, eating a few more spoonfuls of her ice cream.

"Vengeful, crazy, egotistical. You saw him."

"I meant what he was really like. I assume you were raised by him, after all."

Cardin shifted his weight on the chair.

"Before Schnee Corp took him down a few pegs, he was…a little more adjusted. Had this philosophy he passed down to me, about might making right. Mother seemed to like his confidence, and back then, they were just your average couple."

Cardin idly swirled his spoon around the empty glass.

"Then the takeover happened. Couldn't believe he'd been beaten, tried to make his way through the ranks to prove he was still on top. When that wasn't enough, he was trying other things, criminal things, and mother knew well enough that getting out was her best bet. That's about when he disappeared, and aside from some cryptic emails, I didn't hear much from him. Enrolled in Beacon after that, and the rest is history."

Weiss hastily finished her ice cream before it melted, wincing slightly as the brain freeze took hold.

"The 'might is right' part…you mentioned it before, didn't you? Something about the Faunus?"

"Mm. Said that I didn't respect the Faunus since they never seemed to rise up and fight the oppression they're always going on about…not head on, anyway. The White Fang's too cloak and dagger. Too cowardly."

"It sounds like your father's beliefs had quite an impact on you."

"They did, once. Now I'm not so sure."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I mean, look at Jaune. Could barely fight a squirrel at the start of the year, then he goes and kills an Ursa Major like it's nothing. Made me realise that strength isn't always obvious, and even when it is, not lording it over people doesn't mean you don't have any."

Cardin leaned back, his eyes drifting to the sky.

"Then there's Beacon's teams. People can be weak individually, but when they work together, they can cover each other's weaknesses, maybe even make new strengths. Father always said it was about individual strength, but I know for sure that he and Alice couldn't have been taken down by just one of us."

He sighed.

"Used to be simple, but now it's all complicated. Can't just roll over someone weak like Velvet, since they could be some important part of a team. Can't just decide I'm right because I'm the strongest, since sometimes, there's more than one way to have strength. Can't just leave my team behind and work on my own strength, since there's so many tasks at Beacon that need you to work together. It just…doesn't work anymore."

Weiss raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You've been thinking a lot, haven't you?"

"Kinda have to when your old life philosophy breaks like a sheet of glass. Still think there's something about it that holds true, but I'm gonna have to put it back together to find out what. Discard the useless things in the process. Start again."

An incessant beeping pierced through the air from Weiss' scroll, and it was only after checking it that she realised what time it was.

"Ah, dust. Sorry, Cardin, but it looks like I need to finish off some preparations for the Aurora re-opening party. Perhaps I'll see you there?"

Cardin shook his head.

"Sorry, already got something planned for tonight."

"Anything nice?"

"Just a talk with a certain girl in white."

"Then she's…?"

"Yeah. Guess she held on after all." Cardin replied, a note of pride in his voice.

"I'm glad to hear that, considering all she's been through."

"Should I pass her a message?"

Weiss got up from her seat, placing a substantial amount of lien on the table as a tip.

"Just a thank you." she said finally, giving Cardin a warm smile, "For everything."

Cardin smiled back.

"I think she'd like that."

It had been quite a party. With Beacon still under reconstruction by Glynda, many of the boarding students had found themselves without a lot to be getting on with, leaving Aurora's opening packed with people enjoying plenty of food, drink and merriment. Unfortunately, after unwisely starting on a bottle of wine, Weiss found herself a little overcome by the event and, as such, decided to retire upstairs, eventually finding herself on the newly constructed balcony. Even while somewhat inebriated, Weiss still found the view spectacular, and when Jaune came upon her, she was still staring up at the bright stars above, the glass of wine laying mostly untouched in her hand.

"Uh, Weiss?"

Weiss gasped in surprise, using the balcony to support herself as she turned around. Dressed in the same black suit from the first opening party, Jaune looked for all the world like a gentleman, his brow furrowed in worry.

"Are you alright? Someone said you came up here earlier, and I just wanted to make sure you weren't sick or anything. Wait…have you been drinking?"

Weiss lifted her glass up with something approaching pride.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" she exclaimed, her speech slightly slurred, "I mean, when you get these sort of events, people just have to drink some wine to celebrate, don't you think? Why don't you have some?"

"Not after what happened at my sister's wedding." Jaune said sheepishly.

"Please? For me?"

Jaune sighed.

"Well, alright, perhaps just one glass."

In a flash, Weiss zipped in and out of the main building, triumphantly returning with a spotlessly clean glass and eagerly filling it up from a bottle of red wine. Jaune took it a little warily, and while a cautionary sip confirmed that it was a little too rich for him, he supposed humouring Weiss couldn't hurt.

"Nice, isn't it?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah, it's great. Thank you."

Jaune watched as Weiss turned her attention to the sky, and it wasn't long before he too followed suit, whistling softly at its majesty.

"It's definitely nice to see a sky like that after all that stuff underground. Maybe it sounds silly now, but I half thought I was gonna be stuck down there."

"Then it's a good thing we sent that Beaufort rapscallion packing, isn't it?" Weiss responded flamboyantly, "I mean, who did he think he was, anyway? Trying to take on both of us…he should've known that wouldn't work!"

Jaune smiled amusedly.

"I get the impression you might be more than a little drunk, Miss Schnee."

"I most certainly am not!" Weiss exclaimed tartly, even as she downed the rest of her glass, "Tipsy, perhaps…but drunk? Noooo, never!"

"Hah. You're funny when you're drunk."

"So are you…funny looking! Burn!"

"Darn, you've got me there." Jaune joked, "Guess I'd better go home and hang my tux back up, eh? I mean, who wants to see this old mug?"

"Oh no you don't! I won't have a handsome young man like yourself leave just like that!"

Without warning, Weiss placed her glass to the side, grabbing Jaune by the waist and pulling him closer.

"Not without a goodnight kiss, anyway." she finished seductively.

Alarm bells started to ring in Jaune's head as Weiss began to lean in close, her high heels giving her enough height to pull him in for a good smack on the lips….that is, if he let her.

Um, hello? You're already taken, man! Pyrrha is literally just downstairs right now!

But…Weiss...

Is drunk and is definitely not thinking straight. Is this really what you want?

…

There had been times in the past year that Weiss had never left his mind, her petite, perfect form suffocating his thoughts as he tried to think of something, anything else. She was smart, confident, beautiful…okay, maybe she could also be grumpy sometimes, and maybe even a bit mean, but that didn't make the attraction any less real. Still, she had always been on this other level, this holy pedestal, so much so that Jaune had barely entertained the thought of touching it after the incident in Forever Fall.

…and now she was here, practically handing herself over on a silver platter, going in for a kiss of her own volition.

No.

Weiss looked up at him with teary eyes as he gently pushed her away.

"B-but…I thought…"

"I'm sorry, Weiss. I really, truly, am, but…it would be a disservice to both of us. I'm already dating Pyrrha, and you…you deserve someone better. Someone who's not some blonde dork who barely knows what he's doing, both in love and in combat. Someone who's right for you."

As Weiss began to cry, Jaune brought her in for a hug, waiting patiently as her sadness flowed out into the empty night air. Eventually, her tears began to fade, and, releasing the embrace, Jaune gave her an encouraging smile.

"I care about you a lot, you know? You're one of my best friends…and, just because we can't be romantic, doesn't make our bond any weaker. Remember that."

Jaune's smart black shoes clacked along the floor as he walked back into the main room.

"Goodnight, Weiss."

It was quite some time later that Weiss awoke, nearly rolling off the side of her bunk bed before realising where she was.

"How did I…?"

As if to answer her question, the expectant head of Ruby popped up from the side, grinning widely.

"Oh, hey Weiss! Have a good sleep?"

Weiss tilted her head to the side, squinting slightly.

"Maybe when she's a bit older…"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. I guess Glynda finished rebuilding, then?"

"Yup! Doesn't it look great?"

"Well I for one wish she'd neglected to return the empty cookie packets to this particular room." Weiss replied snarkily.

"Those…might be new packets."

"RUBY!"

Meanwhile, a little down the hallway, an armoured figure walked, the mace on their back now decorated with silver-white trim which seemed to emanate a soft, girlish giggle.

"What's so funny?" Cardin asked.

The voice sighed.

Oh, you wouldn't understand. Shipping stuff.

And thus, None Of Your Business comes to a close. It ended up quite a bit longer than In A Grimm Manor, and while I think I preferred its prequel, I still had a lot of fun writing this and, hopefully, it brought some entertainment to you, the readers ^^. I'll be having another pass over the chapters at some point, to pick up on any inelegances or spelling errors I've missed, but otherwise, consider this story done. Will there be a direct sequel? Probably not. Will I write more fanfic? Possibly! Still, I have no schedule for it, so if you want to keep track of me, I'd recommend adding me as a favourite author just for convenience.

In any case, now that the story's all well and done, I'm going to do what I did last time and go over my title trivia. In A Grimm Manor used literary works as title inspiration, but this time, I decided to reference video games...which, uh, turned out to actually be a little harder. Anyways, without further ado:

Capitalism, Ho! - Recettear

You Must Construct Additional Pylons! - Starcraft

Swooping Is Bad - Dragon Age

Desynchronised - Assassin's Creed

S Support Unlocked - Fire Emblem

Objection! - Ace Attorney Series

Guild Wars - Guild Wars

Ignite - League Of Legends

Cave Story - Cave Story

The Slayer - Baldur's Gate

Fallout - Fallout

Dive To The Heart - Kingdom Hearts

Time Crisis - Time Crisis

Set Up Us The Bomb - Zero Wing

Not So Elder Scroll - The Elder Scrolls

End Of Disk Two - General reference to old multi-disk games, especially Final Fantasy

After The Credits - Another general reference to epilogues after the game credits roll

And with that, I reckon we're about done. Thank you for your reviews, favourites and other stuff, and I hope to see you guys again in the future! But until then...ciao!

- Soulwithlife